Spike for railways.



PATENTED MAR. 24, 1908.

No.8 82,953-' Y Y E. R. MINER. SPIKE FOR RAILWAYS. APPLICATION FILEDAPR.17, 1901.

an/1m UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ELWIN'RUTHERFORD MINER, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

SPIKE FOR RAILWAYS.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 24, 1908.

Application filed April 17, 1907. Serial No. 368,749.-

I To all whom "it may concern:

. Be it known that I, ELW-IN RUTHFPFQRD MINER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, city and State ofNew York, have invented a new and useful Improvementin Spikes forRailways, of which the following is a specifica-.

to provide. a spike or nail having a shapewhich will lessen.considerably the above mentioned deformation of the grain-ends.

I have found by practical tests that the reslstance of the. spikeagainst extraction is hereby increased about fifty per cent. overothernails of the same size and for the same purpose. I v Theaccompanying drawing shows" distinctly the. features of my invention inseveral figures, of which Figures land 2 are two perspective views ofthe spike. Fig. 3 is a front view of the spike point showing one of thesides, bearing end- .wise against the grain in plan View; Figs. 4, 5 and6 are cross-sections of thespike body at different heights indicated bythe correspondingsection' lines.

In Fig. l the surface side 1 which mayibe.

called the rear face of the four cornered spike body is channeled fromedge to edge, -starting from'the point 2 upwards, so that the channelingis deepest 'nearthe point2/1,while it disappears gradually towards thehead 3 where the face represents aflat surface asshown-in thethreecrosssections, Figs. 3, 4 and '5. IThischann-eIed facev is intended to facethe grainofthe wood, in which the spike is driven, endwise, causingtherebythe ends of the, grain to'be bent less in the driving direction'than it'wou'ld be the case if this rear face ofthe spike would be flatand thus causing the structure of thewood to remain more solid.

'As stated already above,'it has been proven ,by practical tests thatthus the resistance of the spike against extraction may increase fiftyper cent. over the same spike, having flat faces. I .While thechanneling of only the rear face facing the grain endwise has givenfront face, facing the rail may be a so channel shaped, as'shown'in thecross section, Figs. 4 and 5. The essential point of the channeling,however, is that same has toex tend across the whole face to .bothedges, and

that it gradually disappears towards the head as shown in the drawings,in order to obtain the desired result. Furthermore, the end of the spikeis provided with two edges, 6 and 7, Fig. 3, formed by having the fiatsides 5 and 8 of the spike intended to face the grain sidewise, raisedup and shaped into edges 6 and 7, tapering towards the oint 2, as shownin Figs. 1, 2 and 3. These e ges act -when the spike is driven, ascutting edges crosswise to the grain, thereby gradually making room forthe thicker part of the body,

while the shar edges, 9, 10 and 1 1, 12 are forcing their way ike. achisel gradually endwise into the grain, because, owing to thechanneling from the point 2 u Wards, the two sides forming the edges-cane made to intersect at a comparatively small angle.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new anddesire tosecure by Let-5 ters Patent 1. A fcuricornered spike, adapted to bedriven into wood,ha ving the rear and front face channeled from thespike end upward,

said channeling having its greatest de th near the spike end andgradually flattening out into a flat surface near thespike head. 2.Afour cornered spike, adapted to be driven into wood, having the rearandfrontv face channeledlacross the whole width of the face fromthespike end upward, said channeling having 1138 greatest depth near thespike end. and gradually flattening out into a flat'surface near thespike head. i

ELWIN RUTHERFORD MINER. :Witnesses: W ALFREDLJANKE, -WM.P..HAMM0NDalready satisfactory results, the'op osite or

